We have a new terms which is "social games," which implies that the intersection of games and social-behavior is a new to many people. The fact that this term is in use, and that it has caught on, is evidence of this. I don't think "most people" are dimwitted, however, although I do think that games are not yet a central part of the lives of most people, which perhaps explains why the term has caught on.
I thought it was an odd statement too. It would be a good public service for the Army to reveal as much as possible, since the information could actually benefit the industry by providing useful benchmarks, development methodologies, budget allocations, etc.
Numerous studies have shown that games are about the most consistent and effective way to reach young US males. They generally watch a lot less TV (sports being the possible exception). Considering the huge marketing budget that is spent on advertising the Army, I'd wager that programs like this are highly effective--but I'd be very interested in additional data that reveals how many recruiting leads the Army associates with the program!
I think the key takeaway from the benchmarks is that your mileage can vary. For many people, the Google DNS may be considerably faster. For others, you might have an ISP with very good infrastructure (like FIOS).
Not only that, but the game itself will be a symbol of rebellion for anyone who wants to "stick it to the man." People will buy it who previously had no intention to do so. Well played, AvP...
I think what's often overlooked in these discussions around gold farming is the extent to which it's basically a fundamental flaw of game design. See also Is Gold Farming a Game Design problem?
Perhaps you are correct about him not really protecting a source; you made a good argument until you got to the last sentence where you elevated soldiers and police above journalists and perhaps everyone else in society. It is possible for someone to be a patriot and a protector of freedom without carrying a gun. Historically, those societies which included the combination of strong police and military in the absence of a free press certainly did not use their armed "protectors" to support the cause of freedom.
Patents can be busted by proving "obviousness" as well, and I imagine that EFF will try that in parallel. However, to have the best chance of success they'll want to attack every aspect of the patent which would include demonstrating that others had done so earlier.
Hopefully the new version provides more real gameplay than the first "Warlords" expansion, which seemed to be little more than a bunch of marginal scenario designs.
"Losing their shirts?" I doubt that the amount of money they spent even makes a dent.
This is really just a method for Coldwell Banker to get a lot of free advertising and publicity. Compare the cost of what they "invested" in VR real estate to the cost a national advertising campaigns (which they spend money on regularly).
How long before this Xbox becomes fully expandable, except it will now be called the XPC and run Vista, and to run any software on it, you'll need to use software that has received a Microsoft license. At about this time, there won't be many new games for a "normal" PC and other software apps will be well-on-their-way to being "ported" to the new platform.
The portability of the interface (i.e., the ability for one to access email from anywhere) is great; but the main problem isn't so much the quality of these back-end applications, but making the back-end of the datastore portable as well. For example, if a user favors gmail as an application, yet prefer to use a different POPmail server under the hood. Anyone know of a Web-based email service that is that flexible?
I think that's an example of my Case #3 -- modifying your software to conceal its identity. If they did use a Mozilla UA string, then it seems that it would be only a matter of time before people realized what the originating IP/domains are, at which point the service would need to use proxies to conceal its true identity.
Of course, since most ordinary websites don't want to stop their users from accessing them by a proxy, there's probably not much that can be done in terms of detection--but it still raises the issue of any liability the company might have for accessing the site in a way that's expressly forbidden by its owners.
Not a big surprise from a company that regularly deletes and/or misdirects about 20% of legitimate email to Junk Mail folders on Live/MSN/Hotmail (the worst in the email industry), and tells you that you need to have huge volume before they'll correct problems like sending a personal reply to a customer that never seems to arrive. Their half-baked reliance on technologies like SPF, or demands that companies obtain Sender Score Certification (which will be turned down for any but the most massive email senders) is just the tip of the iceberg.
I don't think anyone would disagree that anti-spam and anti-phishing technologies are a good thing, but Microsoft seems content to wage a scorched-earth battle over the backs of small businesses and startup websites while they tweak the technology.
Maybe this will be like when computer games first started putting epilepsy warnings on the boxes and manuals.
I can see the future warnings that pop-up when you visit every web site:
WARNING. This website may contain content that increases stress levels. This stress may cause a number of harmful physiological side-effects including SUDDEN DEATH. By accessing this website, you agree that you understand the risks of stress-inducing websites, and release us from all harm, yadda yadda yadda...
I recently posted about a similar subject elsewhere ( http://www.guildcafe.com/showthread.php?p=4261#pos t4261 ), but to net out my thoughts on this: the most memorable games are those that make you feel something. Years from now you won't care what the graphics look like, but you will remember how a particular game made you feel. If a game doesn't make you feel something (fear, elation, wonder, romance, or whatever) I think you'll forget about it.
I still remember how Ultima VII made me feel 15 years ago, or Planetfall before that. Baldur's Gate and KOTOR1 also did a good job in more recent history. It appears to be a waning art, however.
1) They don't honor robots.txt 2) Sites that don't want to be scanned by them will add code to their rewriting rules and/or dynamic pages so that their search bot gets directed to a dead-end page. 3) The search engine needs to be modified in such a way to hide its identity, operate through proxies, etc., in an attempt to get around #2.
While the company is different (Obsidian vs. Bioware) it's my understanding that the key people and managers behind the implementation are the same. If I'm wrong, I'd like to know that, though.
I'm amazed that any trigger on game controller could possibly be considered non-obvious at this point. This is just another example of our outdated patent system... Has this company done anything with their government-sponsored patent-monopoly to create a market out of it?
Slashdot Mirror
You mean five millenia?
We have a new terms which is "social games," which implies that the intersection of games and social-behavior is a new to many people. The fact that this term is in use, and that it has caught on, is evidence of this. I don't think "most people" are dimwitted, however, although I do think that games are not yet a central part of the lives of most people, which perhaps explains why the term has caught on.
I think we're in violent agreement then. What is obvious to you (the social nature of games), however, isn't particularly obvious to most people.
I thought it was an odd statement too. It would be a good public service for the Army to reveal as much as possible, since the information could actually benefit the industry by providing useful benchmarks, development methodologies, budget allocations, etc.
Numerous studies have shown that games are about the most consistent and effective way to reach young US males. They generally watch a lot less TV (sports being the possible exception). Considering the huge marketing budget that is spent on advertising the Army, I'd wager that programs like this are highly effective--but I'd be very interested in additional data that reveals how many recruiting leads the Army associates with the program!
I think the key takeaway from the benchmarks is that your mileage can vary. For many people, the Google DNS may be considerably faster. For others, you might have an ISP with very good infrastructure (like FIOS).
Not only that, but the game itself will be a symbol of rebellion for anyone who wants to "stick it to the man." People will buy it who previously had no intention to do so. Well played, AvP...
I think what's often overlooked in these discussions around gold farming is the extent to which it's basically a fundamental flaw of game design. See also Is Gold Farming a Game Design problem?
Perhaps you are correct about him not really protecting a source; you made a good argument until you got to the last sentence where you elevated soldiers and police above journalists and perhaps everyone else in society. It is possible for someone to be a patriot and a protector of freedom without carrying a gun. Historically, those societies which included the combination of strong police and military in the absence of a free press certainly did not use their armed "protectors" to support the cause of freedom.
Patents can be busted by proving "obviousness" as well, and I imagine that EFF will try that in parallel. However, to have the best chance of success they'll want to attack every aspect of the patent which would include demonstrating that others had done so earlier.
Hopefully the new version provides more real gameplay than the first "Warlords" expansion, which seemed to be little more than a bunch of marginal scenario designs.
Regardless of whose fault it was... I have touble imagining that the Hot Coffee incident did anything other than increase sales of GTA.
This is really just a method for Coldwell Banker to get a lot of free advertising and publicity. Compare the cost of what they "invested" in VR real estate to the cost a national advertising campaigns (which they spend money on regularly).
How long before this Xbox becomes fully expandable, except it will now be called the XPC and run Vista, and to run any software on it, you'll need to use software that has received a Microsoft license. At about this time, there won't be many new games for a "normal" PC and other software apps will be well-on-their-way to being "ported" to the new platform.
My Crocodile Sense is tingling... Given how much she enjoys being in the media, I suspect she also loves being at the center of this controversy.
The portability of the interface (i.e., the ability for one to access email from anywhere) is great; but the main problem isn't so much the quality of these back-end applications, but making the back-end of the datastore portable as well. For example, if a user favors gmail as an application, yet prefer to use a different POPmail server under the hood. Anyone know of a Web-based email service that is that flexible?
I think that's an example of my Case #3 -- modifying your software to conceal its identity. If they did use a Mozilla UA string, then it seems that it would be only a matter of time before people realized what the originating IP/domains are, at which point the service would need to use proxies to conceal its true identity. Of course, since most ordinary websites don't want to stop their users from accessing them by a proxy, there's probably not much that can be done in terms of detection--but it still raises the issue of any liability the company might have for accessing the site in a way that's expressly forbidden by its owners.
I don't think anyone would disagree that anti-spam and anti-phishing technologies are a good thing, but Microsoft seems content to wage a scorched-earth battle over the backs of small businesses and startup websites while they tweak the technology.
I can see the future warnings that pop-up when you visit every web site:
WARNING. This website may contain content that increases stress levels. This stress may cause a number of harmful physiological side-effects including SUDDEN DEATH. By accessing this website, you agree that you understand the risks of stress-inducing websites, and release us from all harm, yadda yadda yadda ...
I still remember how Ultima VII made me feel 15 years ago, or Planetfall before that. Baldur's Gate and KOTOR1 also did a good job in more recent history. It appears to be a waning art, however.
Anyone with an electrical water heater should measure that. It probably sucks down more watts than everything else in the house combined.
Banning the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature?
I can imagine this progression of events:
1) They don't honor robots.txt
2) Sites that don't want to be scanned by them will add code to their rewriting rules and/or dynamic pages so that their search bot gets directed to a dead-end page.
3) The search engine needs to be modified in such a way to hide its identity, operate through proxies, etc., in an attempt to get around #2.
Upon 3, are they criminally liable for hacking?
While the company is different (Obsidian vs. Bioware) it's my understanding that the key people and managers behind the implementation are the same. If I'm wrong, I'd like to know that, though.
I'm amazed that any trigger on game controller could possibly be considered non-obvious at this point. This is just another example of our outdated patent system... Has this company done anything with their government-sponsored patent-monopoly to create a market out of it?